The present invention relates generally to the field of furniture and more specifically to a process for producing basic furniture structures and basic furniture structures.
In the process for producing furniture structures the starting workpieces used are panels which already have the respectively desired decoration on the subsequently external side. The decoration is part of a cover layer which is applied to the carrier material of the panels. Suitable for this purpose, in particular, are chipboard panels which are laminated on their outer sides with cover layers in which decoration-carrying paper is incorporated on the outer side.
It is also known for installable furniture parts, such as moldings, which likewise consist of wood or wood-like materials, to be provided with a decorative imprint. Such a process has not been envisaged up until now in the production of basic furniture structures because, up until now, the practice has been to refrain from leaving the film hinges which are necessary in basic structures for the sheet-folding process, along the basic-structure corner edges, at a subsequently visible location. Moreover, a basic furniture structure is a voluminous body which, for the purpose of being provided with printing all the way around its outer sides, involves a considerable level of outlay.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for producing basic furniture structures.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a basic furniture structure.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly hereinafter.
In accordance with the present invention there is presented a process for providing basic furniture structures in which the starting panel, which is usually planar and processed in the flat state, may be provided with a colored print on one side or both sides more easily than a finished basic furniture structure. A film hinge, which has its outer side located in an exposed manner both on the outer side of the panel and on the outer corner edges of the basic furniture structure, has the same decoration printed over it. With the same basic color as that on the adjacent outer sides of the basic-structure sides, it is possible to conceal the presence of the film hinge. The cross-sectionally rectangular or square basic furniture structure still has to be separately joined together, and if appropriate provided with printing along its fourth corner edge, but the decorative imprint is already finished on all four basic-structure sides, and the three further corner edges, before the sheet-folding operation. In addition, the process according to the invention allows particularly straightforward storage of the starting panels, which are required just in a basic color. It is only during the production operation, namely during processing of the respective starting panel, that the respectively desired decoration is applied by printing. It is thus also possible to provide for the starting panels considerably more straightforward cover layers without incorporated decorative paper.
The invention also results in a basic furniture structure produced by the above-mentioned process.